Naamah's Kiss (Naamah, #1)

by Jacqueline Carey

Once there were great magicians born to the Maghuin Dhonn, the folk of the Brown Bear, the oldest tribe in Alba. But generations ago the greatest of them all broke a sacred oath and now only small gifts remain to them. Moirin possesses such gifts - she has the ability to summon the twilight and conceal herself, and the skill to coax plants to quicken. She has a secret, too. From childhood onwards, she has been able to sense the presence of unfamiliar gods in her life: the bright lady, the man with a seedling cupped in his palm.

Moirin is raised in the wilderness by her reclusive mother, Fainche, and it isn't until she is befriended by Cillian, son of the Lord of the Dalriada, that she learns her father was a D'Angeline priest dedicated to serving Naamah, goddess of desire.

After Moirin undergoes the rites of adulthood, she finds divine acceptance ... on the condition that she fulfils an unknown destiny, one that lies somewhere beyond the ocean. And that destiny promises both pleasure and pain, as she finds herself facing an ambitious mage, a noble warrior princess desperate to save her father's throne, and the spirit of a celestial dragon.

• ISBN10: 0575093587
• ISBN13: 9780575093584
• Publish Date: 13 May 2010 (first published 1 June 2009)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 672
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

Though I’ve had Carey’s Kushiel series on my "want to read" list for quite a while, this is the first of her books that I’ve read. It absolutely won’t be the last. Carey has created an incredibly complex yet easily understood world, and has a knack for introducing us to it without boring us with rote history lessons. I was immediately pulled into Moirin’s world, and gladly followed her on her epic journey as she searched for her divine purpose. The D’Angeline are obviously based on the French, and the Ch’in on the Chinese, but it only adds to your ability to visualize what is happening. Considered "wild" by most every other culture, Moirin still manages to find away to fit in without losing herself, even if she does have to learn how to handle living in man-made structures and eating with utensils rather than her hands. This story was a little bit coming of age, a little bit romance, and a lot of adventure. It ends with a cliffhanger of sorts, and I can’t wait to read the next one. I’ll also be picking up that first Kushiel book much sooner than I expected.